Wildcats head coach David Sitton poses for a portrait before his final home game April 24, 2015, at the newly christened David Sitton Field at Humble High School.

Wildcats head coach David Sitton poses for a portrait before his final home game April 24, 2015, at the newly christened David Sitton Field at Humble High School.

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Wildcats head coach David Sitton waits with his father, John, to be honored before Humble's matchup against Barbers Hill on April 24, 2015, at the newly named David Sitton Field at Humble High School.

Wildcats head coach David Sitton waits with his father, John, to be honored before Humble's matchup against Barbers Hill on April 24, 2015, at the newly named David Sitton Field at Humble High School.

Photo: ANDREW BUCKLEY

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Wildcats head coach David Sitton stands with his family as he is honored before Humble's matchup against Barbers Hill on April 24, 2015, at the newly named David Sitton Field at Humble High School.

Wildcats head coach David Sitton stands with his family as he is honored before Humble's matchup against Barbers Hill on April 24, 2015, at the newly named David Sitton Field at Humble High School.

Photo: ANDREW BUCKLEY

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On the eve of his final home game as the head coach of Humble baseball, David Sitton took about 15 minutes to himself at the field he literally built from home plate up.

Standing there, Sitton looked out towards the scoreboard and up at the press box, peering at the letters that said “Welcome to David Sitton Field” placed in big bold black lettering, and knew this was the final chapter in his coaching career.

“Believe it or not for the first time in my life I’m speechless, I don’t even know what to say,” Sitton said prior to Humble’s game against Barbers Hill on Friday. “I feel extremely honored, not about what we’ve done as a team in the 30 some odd years, but it’s more about the players and the parents and all the help that’s been involved with everybody that has been a part of this program as long as I have.”

For Sitton, Humble High School is more than just a job he’s held for the past 31years, it’s home.

In total, if you count his playing years as a Wildcat and two years as a bat boy in 1970 and 1971, Sitton has bled Wildcat purple for 37 of the 45 years that Humble High School baseball has been around.

After playing at Humble High School, Sitton went on to play baseball at San Jacinto Junior College and the University of Arkansas. Initially out of college Sitton coached at St. Pius X where he led them to a TCIL State Championship in his first year out of college in 1984.

But you couldn’t keep Sitton away from Humble for much longer. The next year, Sitton took over at Humble as the head coach and has never left.

Impressive Resume

When coaches take over a program, some refer to the team as a rebuilding project. For Sitton when he arrived at Humble, it wasn’t a rebuilding that the Wildcats needed, it needed to be built.

“When I got the job here we didn’t even have dugouts,” Sitton said. “We didn’t even have bleachers, just a fence. With the help and support of the community and players and boosters and families, it’s why we have now what we have today.”

As the complex, that now is nestled in the shadow of Turner Stadium, was coming into form, the players came and the Wildcats started winning.

Humble quickly became a force to be reckoned with in the Greater Houston Area as just in his third season as the head coach, Sitton guided the Wildcats to Humbles first ever District Championship.

“I’m not boasting on myself, it’s about the kids, but it is amazing that there had never been a District Championship until we got the first one in 1987,” Sitton said. “After that it just started becoming a habit. After that it wasn’t about how many games we were going win, it was about how deep in the playoffs are we going to go this time. Let’s go one step farther than last year. We never won that last one like everybody wants to, but extremely proud of what has been accomplished.”

The District Title in 1987 would be the first of nine District Championships that Sitton would help Humble claim in his career and with that came more impressive marks.

In his 31-year career as a head coach with the Wildcats, Humble made 18 playoff appearances, notched more than 530 wins in his career, had 17 All-State players, 73 players going on to play college baseball and eventually 17 players drafted into Major League Baseball.

Because of his accomplishments Sitton was given the Ray Knoblauch Coaching Award in 2005 from the Houston Athletic Committee.

Also in his time at Humble, Sitton served as the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association President from 2007-2010, along with throwing batting practice for the Houston Astros for 12 years.

Getting to spend so much time at his hometown school leading them to all this success means a lot to Sitton, he said and would not do anything different.

“Means the world to me and that’s why I’ve stayed here my entire life,” Sitton said. “If I could change anything about it, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Final Home Game

Growing up in Humble, Texas, Sitton spent a lot of time at the gym and on the field with his childhood friend David Denny.

Little did he know more than three decades later, they would be standing in the opposite dugouts as head coaches on his final home game as the head coach of Humble High School.

“It really does, it’s amazing how all this happened,” Sitton said about facing Denny. “Coincidentally that we’re playing him my last home game, because we had some battles when he was at Kingwood. He and I just grew up together, he was a freshman here playing for us when I graduated from here, so time goes way back even to when his dad was the head basketball coach here. We’d stay in the gym all day, then we’d come on the field all day. I and he have known each other our whole lives.”

Getting to face Denny in his final game was even more special, considering both had been through life-threatening events that could have prevented this day from ever coming.

Nearly six years ago Sitton was involved in a motorcycle accident, which took him a year to come back from to coach again, while Denny suffered a heart attack at one point.

When Denny was standing at third coaching during Friday’s game, Sitton said they had a conversation about how it was neat how they were both still here to coach in this game and glad they are here to laugh about it today.

When asked about what high school baseball has meant to him, with one game left in his coaching career, Sitton said it has been all he has ever done. It’s been baseball and now it’s time to step away, which is a moment he never thought he would do.

“It’s the toughest decision I’ve ever made in my life,” he said. “I can’t describe why I’m doing it. But I guess when you’ve done something your whole life you think what else can I do in life. I know that I’m not done at all, I just know that I’m very blessed to be here from some other issues that have taken place in the last five years but I love the game, I love the Wildcats. I’m not just waking away from them, I’ll still be around.”

Family

After the entire field had cleared of players and coaches, there standing at home plate was David, his wife Diana and their four daughters Rachelle, Courtney, Kaleigh and Devin.

Each wanting their turn for a picture with dad, and then as a group, they all wanted one last memory with their father on the field they grew up on.

For David and Diana it was a big weekend of celebration.

Through a proclamation by the Mayor of Humble, Friday, April 24, was officially “Coach David Sitton Day” but arguably there was a much more important date this weekend - the Sitton’s wedding anniversary.

In 1991 at a coaching convention in Waco, David originally met Diana. As his wife of more than 25 years now remembers, she didn’t like David the first night they met. The next evening she was in College Station and they met again. A week later they met up in Humble, went to a basketball game, and then traveled up I-45 to Papacitas Restaurant, where he asked her to marry him. She said yes and a month later they were married.

“You have to be a good coach’s wife to do this,” Diana said. “You have to understand everything.”

Watching him walk away from the game at this point, Diana said she wanted to see him go out as the winner like he used to be and he is humbled by the renaming of the field and all the things that were done for him.

All of this happening in one weekend is special because back in 2008 there were a lot of things happening that jeporadized these dates maybe ever coming.

In August of 2008, Diana was diagnosed with breast cancer, in October they went in and got all of the cancer out. Just a few months later, David was involved in a motorcycle wreck that nearly cost him his life.

During this stretch Diana said she remembered finishing her final surgery, while David was being taken care of in the hospital as well and after her final surgery she went home to take care of him the rest of the year.

Throughout it all of this, Diana said their daughters were amazing and stepped up.

“So that was a tough year for all of us, but the girls were awesome,” she said. “So they’ve overcome adversity. I speak too and when I speak I speak on overcoming adversity.”

Now years later they can celebrate more than just wins on the field but also off of it.

What’s Next

David might be done coaching baseball here in the next week at Humble High School, but it is surely not the end for him in the game he has loved so long.

He will stay close to the program David said, but he will not be on the staff, but will be at ball games and might even go to some practices.

“I love Humble, Texas,” he said. “I love what our program is about, but it’s all about the kids all the time.”

As for what he is looking forward to in retirement, David said he will look to play a little more golf than he is able to do right now and just enjoy not being on the clock all the time.

“I think it’s just going to be fun not being pushed by a time clock,” he said. “Being able to make small decisions about what you want to do that day. If you want to go get a job, get a job. Just do whatever.”